Kingdom Hearts: Quiet of the Ascension
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: SEQUEL TO KINGDOM HEARTS LIGHT OF HAPPINESS! After Chris and Co. defeat Johnson, Chris and Nudge journey to Castle Oblivion, to fulfill the events in the second game in chronological order. But it will be far more brutal then they expect!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: _Chris Talonflight: _Crossroads

_ Well, this is going better then I expected._ I walked through the high grass, my little Shadow Heartless friend Nudge trundling along beside me. I could see the crossroads from here. Now was the time that I would find out the way to Castle Oblivion, and probably lose all of my memory. But there would be a way out. There had to be.

_Is it really only a month? Seems like a lifetime ago._ I though wistfully. Exactly one month before, I had lived on Earth, a world separated from the worlds of fantasy. Then the Heartless had come, and had destroyed my world, sending it back to merge with Kingdom Hearts. I had fought my way through several other worlds, along with my friends: Ashley, Rodney, and C. Ashley was a Keyblade wielder, and she wielded a keyblade named Lurebreaker. Rodney had wielded the power of lightning, but he had succumbed to darkness and finally been killed by C. C wielded a guitar that could control water: a useful weapon.

At the end of my journey, we had encountered our greatest enemy so far: a man who called himself Johnson, who had wielded the power of darkness. I had faced him in combat at the end, and barely defeated him. He had died when he tried to summon the power of Kingdom Hearts. It had killed him instead. However, the door to Kingdom Hearts had been opened, and there was only one way to close it. Johnson had created a replica of me using power contained in the mysterious fortress known as Castle Oblivion, and the replica had rebelled against him and joined me. The replica agreed to be sealed inside Kingdom Hearts along with the King of Disney Castle, King Mickey. Their Keyblades, weapons that could lock and unlock worlds, combined with the power of my own keyblade, had locked Kingdom Hearts, and ensured that it could never be accessed from that point again. My friends Ashley and C had been returned to our world when the door was locked, because re-locking the door would cause all of the worlds that had been destroyed to return to their place, which was, in their case, Earth. Another friend, David Frostmourne, had been returned to his world of Disney Castle: or so I hoped, but I had since suspected that Frostmourne's had no true home. But it was the departure of my last friend, Yuffie Stromwind, which had troubled me most. You see, I was in love with her.

Yuffie and I had met the same day that I had arrived in a world called Traverse Town. We had developed a relationship, and I still bore her parting gifts: a legendary healing Materia, and her headband.

I looked at my hand, and summoned my weapon, Soul Eater. I had the power of darkness, but I did not use it to do evil as others had done. I used it for the good of the worlds. I had called on all my power in my final battle, and defeated my opponent. I glanced down at my companion, a small being about two and a half feet tall, pitch black, with round yellow eyes. He was a Shadow Heartless, the most common kind of heartless that was in existence. However, his powers far surpassed any normal Heartless, to the point that he and I were almost equal. Almost. I was a bit better. Probably because I could wield two Soul Eater swords and a dark keyblade: Last Chaos. He, unlike other heartless, did not crave hearts, but instead followed me like a puppy, and was a godsend in combat. His name was Nudge.

I sighed. _Looks like I'm going to go to Castle Oblivion after all._ I could see the approaching dark figure, and set off away from the crossroads to meet it.

"I already know what you are going to tell me." I yelled to him. I never had figured out who this was. There were only thirteen possibilities, but the hoods made it impossible.

"Indeed? Then my task is merely to point your way." The dark, hooded figure pointed down a path. I took the path. Far in the distance I could make out a huge castle. _Castle Oblivion._ I shuddered. I knew what I would find inside, but I had no choice but to make the journey. I wouldn't remember what happened here in the future: Once I reached the top of the castle, I would have lost all of my memories. I would have to make a deal with a girl named Namine to re-string my memories back together, while my Nobody, the creature that remained when a person became a heartless, worked with an evil secret society, until he eventually left it and I re-absorbed him. I knew also that I would run into the Replica of me here. There was also a chance that I would run into a replica of Ashley, or one of my other friends. Here was the place I would live my highest moments, as well as my lowest. I would see the violence and the gentleness. I also knew that the moment I walked through the door into Castle Oblivion, not a single person who had never entered the castle would remember me: it was part of Castle Oblivion. If you entered, you would only be remembered by those who had ever entered also. So that meant… it would be Replica and the King, definitely… Frostmourne, maybe… and my enemies, duh. Fine and dandy.

Then the picture of Yuffie forgetting all about me, even if only for the space of a year, came to me, and I felt tears sting my eyes. _I'm so sorry, Yuffie._

I walked in through the double doors of Castle Oblivion. First floor. No one in the outside world would remember me now, until I awoke from my sleep in a year. Here began my journey.

"I've been awaiting your arrival." I looked at the figure standing in front of me.

"Go ahead." I broke through the formalities. "Sample my mind and let's be done with it! I may have forgotten some of my moves, but one thing I haven't forgotten is how to use my sword."

The hooded man sniffed. "Very well. Your choice." He dashed at me, and seemed to phase through me. There was a moment of dizziness, and I was back to normal.

"Tell me the rules of Castle Oblivion." I demanded. I couldn't remember the rules at the moment: I was too dizzy. Nudge nudged me.

"When you entered that door, you forgot most of your attacks and spells." He intoned. "In order to regain those memories, you will have to make your way through each of the worlds in this Castle." He held up a crown shaped card. "In order to progress through the doorways, you must get a card. Each card contains the key to the next room. In order to move up a floor, you must have passed through all the rooms to gain the pieces of the Floor Card, and you must have all of the cards in the aerial part of the castle to gain the Final Card. Everything is ruled by the cards. That is the rule of Castle Oblivion."

"Thank you." I nodded. Then I walked up to him, and took the proffered card to the next room. It had on it the name: Key of Beginnings. I nodded, and walked up to the door, and held up the card.

The door opened.

I stepped though.

**A quite good start as I believe, but correct me if I'm wrong. This story is**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: _Yuffie Stromwind: _Fading Memories

Chris had left behind his PS2 in Traverse Town. Just my luck. Now I had something to do all day, since I was no good at building things except weapons.

I slid in the disc for Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.

A month ago, Chris had arrived. He had helped me change from Yuffie Kisaragi to Yuffie Stromwind. Now he had gone, leaving behind the video games that had turned out to be prophecy. Now we had them.

We weren't in Traverse Town any longer. We had moved back to our old world as soon as it had been reclaimed from the Heartless: Hollow Bastion. We were now at work rebuilding the city that had been so cruelly destroyed after the Cataclysm. One exception: me. Little miss can't-build-buildings-to-save-her-life Yuffie Stromwind. What's a girl ninja to do?

The Cataclysm: the event that had separated the worlds. In the beginning, there had only been two worlds: Chris's world, and the Fantasy World. When the Cataclysm occurred, Darkness shattered the connections holding the Fantasy world together, resulting in the many worlds that now existed. It also shunted away Chris's world, Earth, and made our worlds a far off dream. And in time, a dream was all that they thought we were. My world, however, had not been part of the Fantasy World. We had lived in a universe far off from both of the other two worlds, but the Cataclysm had shattered both space and time, and had combined my entire Universe into what was now known as a world called Hollow Bastion.

I laughed silently. I remembered Chris's face when he saw me for the first time: he hadn't been sure if I was real or not!

The game loaded. We had already done everything that had occurred in Kingdom Hearts One. Now it was time to move on to what happened in chronological order: Re: Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and finally Kingdom Hearts 2. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep did not concern our lifetimes, but heck, I still planned on playing it later anyway.

I sighed. _Chris… My love… I miss you so freaking much!_

I pressed X to continue. I missed my playing partner, Nudge, and also my girly chats with Ashley, not to even mention C's guitar playing. Now that it was just Leon, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, Merlin, and I, things were… different. Maybe it wasn't the people. Maybe it was just me. I had changed quite a bit since meeting Chris!

My character, Sora, entered Castle Oblivion. He was confronted by a man in a hood. They talked. I paid attention to every single detail. Then I overlaid in my mind an image of Chris in Sora's place. It looked nice…

Once Sora stepped through the first doorway, he found himself in… Traverse Town? From the previous dialogue, I could guess that he wasn't really in the real Traverse Town. Then something that the man said caught my ear.

_"Once you stepped through those doors, no one who has not been in Castle Oblivion will remember you… that is, until the first time you wake up after sleep once you leave this place."_

How long did I have until my memories of Chris were erased?

The Thought panicked me. I spent the next fifteen minutes thinking about all of the things that I knew about Chris

_He is devotedly attached to Nudge. He likes cheese. He's about six foot one, maybe a little shorter. The first time we met he had on a black jacket. His favorite color is black and purple, the color of my eyes. He wields darkness. He is a kind person. He likes animals. He's my age, eighteen. He's an awesome fighter. He likes video games. He saved me. He will go to any lengths to help his friends. He escaped the trials of the Station of Awakening. He knows master Yen Sid._

I felt sudden sleepiness take hold of me. I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I collapsed in front of the video game.

_And more then that… _I thought as I drifted into unconsciousness, _I love him… and he loves… me…_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: _David Frostmourne: _A New Assignment

_So, this is Castle Oblivion._ I thought. _Who was it that told me that the King would end up in here…? Something… Someone… I can't remember… It was from a video game? Whatever, I should check this out anyway. The King would want me to. That makes it my new assignment. _I slid on my spiked gauntlets, with their spiked wings. _Something about the look of this place tells me that I won't be able to keep hidden in there. I should be prepared for any danger._ I was standing in a small clump of dead trees, mere yards away from the castle.

"Admiring the view?"

I whirled around. Standing there was a man in a black coat, with the hood down, obscuring his face.

"Maybe." I growled. "Now who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." He growled. He then stretched out his hands, and a large shield appeared in his hands. I felt the temperature drop to several below zero. _Why is it so cold? _ I thought, watching my breath come in foggy bursts from my mouth. _Is… is he doing this?_

"Vexen, make an end of this!" a voice said from behind me. I whirled again, and saw another man in a similar coat. _Where are they coming from? I heard no footsteps, no breathing, nothing! _ I was surprised. This newcomer was holding a book, which I identified as a lexicon.

"You know I will!" the first being, which was evidently named Vexen, replied. "He'll be a fine specimen for the program, Zexion!"

_ Program? _I wondered. Then I could wonder no more, because there was a sudden feeling of cold at my feet. I looked down, and saw that my legs were being encased in ice! Almost instantly, more ice covered my arms and chest, immobilizing me.

"Why are you doing this?!" I yelled. The second being, Zexion, merely sniffed.

"You are not authorized to be here. We are merely doing away with an intruder. If you really wanted to be an effective spy, you should have applied yourself." He opened a portal of darkness. _So that's why I didn't hear them._ Then the ice covered my head, and I fell into an icy slumber…

* * * * * *

My eyes snapped open. I was staring into the gaze of a familiar figure.

"So they got you too, huh?" he said, sighing.

"… Chris?" I asked. A flood of memories came back: _Chris… he was the one who told me about the king being here. Why did I forget?_

"Yes… and then, no." he smiled slightly. "You remember when we were fighting Johnson, the other Chris, the replica?" he pointed to himself.

"Ahh, you're the replica version." I nodded. "You are Chris Vasquez, while the one we refer to as 'real' is Chris Talonflight." I looked around me, noticing that my arms were bound to the wall my chains. "How'd you get in here?"

"I don't really know." He confessed. "One second I was with the King in the World of Darkness, and then I woke up here." He looked up. "Have they told you the rules of this place yet?"

"Rules?" I asked. "Rules are made to be broken. Besides, I just woke up from sleeping in an ice cube. I don't know any rules."

Chris-Replica laughed. "I see why Chris and you get along. But what I'm trying to say is that this place has these weird spells on it. When we enter this place, they sampled our memories. So we probably forgot things. However, there is one thing that I DO remember from Chris's memories: if we go to the top of the castle, we will gradually lose memories on the way there." _So that explains why I couldn't remember Chris._ "From what I gathered from our captors, we are in the basement levels of Castle Oblivion. We have to get to the ground level of the building in order to escape. Chris, also, is in this building, but he has a different mission. He must get to the top of the castle, while killing most of the enemies there. We cannot help him in his mission: he must do that alone, unfortunately. But he has Nudge with him, as I have Trufflehunter." He explained.

"Trufflehunter?" I wondered. Chris-Replica laughed.

"My tame heartless. It's a Neoshadow." I merely grunted. Having a heartless as a guardian was fine enough, but it was hard to tell them apart from the normal heartless breed. I wondered if this one would get killed by accident. It had been a close call last month with Nudge.

"Any idea of how to get out?" he asked. "Chris's memories say nothing of that."

I snorted. "What use are memories when brute strength will suffice?" Now that I knew the nearly impossible odds that were stacked against us, I could activate my powers with a simple psychological trick. I closed my eyes and pictured several beings in black coats, like the ones that had captured me. I visualized all sorts of terrible scenarios, making the situation seem, to my mind, far worse then it actually could be. I pictured us dying. With that thought, I had successfully tricked my body into thinking that there were impossible odds against us. The deep-hidden rage ignited once again, and I felt my muscles swell with deadly heat.

"All I need." I grunted. "Is one, good, hard, pull!" I yanked my arms forwards. The chains holding me held for a moment, and then broke. I allowed my mind to phase back to reality. My muscles shrank to normal size, and the anger went out like a snuffed anger.

"Any idea where our weapons are?" I asked. I couldn't do the trick twice in a row. Chris-Replica would stay there until I got him out.

"My weapon is always with me." He responded. A bat-winged sword appeared in his hand. I snatched it from him, and began sawing at the chains.

"I never thought you would join us." I growled. "Personally, I had my mind set on squashing you when we met." I sighed. "Funny how times change. Former enemies, now friends. Who would have thought?" Chris-Replica smirked.

"Well, I don't know about the squashing part." He got his hands free, and summoned a second Soul Eater to help me work on his legs. "Personally I think I would give you a run for your money."

"Hmph. One day we'll settle it in the King's Arena." I smiled. "But until then, let's try and get out of this place."

"Agreed." He stood free.

"Where are my weapons?" I asked. All that I had on me was my tiny golden punch knife, hidden up my sleeve.

"I have no idea. Sorry." He shrugged.

"Never mind. I needed to forge a new set anyway. Those were getting a little out of style. Besides, the spiked part on the wings was annoying when you tried to block." I picked a length of the heavy chain. It would have to do for now. Besides, it had more range then my spiked gauntlets.

"Up is this way." I pointed. Then the replica took a green card from his pocket and frowned. "What is it?"

"Trufflehunter doesn't like being cooped up in here." He said. "When you have a minion come with you, they automatically become placed inside a card."

"Does this mean one of us will have to go inside a card?" I asked. Replica shook his head.

"No. We're both equals, so we don't have to. Come on, let's get going."

We started climbing the long staircase.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: _Chris Talonflight: _Fake World

I had been in the fake Traverse Town long enough to be bored. There were far more heartless here. I had made it through several 'rooms', and had found several pieces to the card that would let me go up a floor. I needed two more.

"Fighting without Nudge is hard after so long a partnership."I thought out loud.

"It will be harder after you die because of the Heartless, if you aren't careful." Leon said.

_LEON?!_

"Nice to see you again, Leon." I said, not bothering to look at him.

"I've never seen you before." He said, looking at me darkly. "Who are you?"

"A friend, Leon. A friend." I looked at my friend. This wasn't the real Leon, it was merely a fake replica created by the fake world in this castle. I dreaded to think of what the others were like.

"You aren't my friend." He readied his gunblade. "You walk with a Shadow Heartless."

"Leon, I really don't want to fight you." I said impatiently.

"I don't care what you want, Chris." He said, about to attack.

"If I wasn't a friend, how come you know my name?" I countered. Leon hesitated.

"Hold up… What's going on here?" another voice interrupted. My heart leapt at the voice, and I turned to Yuffie with a smile, but then I remembered: this wasn't the real thing, only a fake. However, she was still as stunningly beautiful as the real one.

"Are you new to this world?" Yuffie asked. I nodded painfully. This copy didn't even know me.

"Yeah, just passing through. And it seems that your friend has a desire to chop me apart: not that I'm going to let him." Yuffie laughed at that.

"He has a Shadow Heartless with him!" Leon protested. "And how do you know me?"

"Never mind." I waved him off. "I have an appointment with a friend. I was to meet them tomorrow." I looked around. "As for the Shadow Heartless, I can explain. He used to be my brother, but I found him right as he was turning. Because I was able to use my power, I managed to suppress the gene that makes Heartless go after hearts, and bury his heartless nature entirely. Now, he is my bodyguard, and a good friend." I reached down to pet him. My story was not true at all. In fact, I had no idea whatsoever who Nudge had been before he turned, and I had no idea why he didn't go after hearts. I merely knew that he did as he did and accepted it: he had, after all, saved my life. And besides, I couldn't control how Heartless were really made.

"Awe, he's cute!" he was poking Yuffie, who had bent down to pet him. The familiar sight nearly brought tears to my eyes, but I pushed them back. They would do no good now. Then Yuffie looked up at me. "Do you have a place to stay until tomorrow?" she asked.

"No, I don't." I answered honestly. I had had no idea that I was going to sleep here. But then, I would have to: this castle was so huge that I couldn't finish my journey to the top in one night. And whatever the black cloaked men were after, they wouldn't kill me until I got to the top.

_The black cloaked men… didn't I know who they were? They were a group… and they wanted me for something… _Then I realized that it was a memory that had already faded away. _Darn… this is harder then I thought… Wait… oh yeah! Their called Organization XIII_

"You can stay at my place!" Yuffie exclaimed. "The world famous ninja Yuffie Kisaragi will protect you from heartless!"

"Yuffie-" Leon tried to interject, but Yuffie and I were already moving away.

_Yuffie KISARAGI! This is who Yuffie used to be BEFORE the Cataclysm! _When I had met Yuffie, she had been trying to change who she was. After losing two close friends, she had realized how conceited and rude (and other things that she hadn't even told me) she was, and she had tried to be a nicer person. She had changed her last name to Stromwind. The difference in last names gave it away. Still, she was a cute here as she was before. However, she was wearing even more revealing of an outfit then she was when I met her, which was slightly distracting. While general image of the Yuffie I knew was still sleeveless shirts that revealed the midriff and short shorts, THIS Yuffie had on a shirt that was practically not there, and her shorts could have been underwear for all I knew.

_Hmm… no wonder she ran away that first time we kissed… she pictured herself as a slut._ Things made a bit more sense now.

"Come on, it's this way!" the fake Yuffie grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards a building near the accessory shop.

_Why is she so insistent about taking me to her house? She doesn't know me… Oh no, if this is what I think it is…_

Yuffie shut the door behind us, and pulled me towards the living room. "You can sleep on the couch. Sorry I don't have anything more comfortable… unless, that is, if you want to sleep in MY room." She winked suggestively. "I have a fold-out bed in there beside the one I use."

"I believe the couch will be satisfactory." I said nervously. _So… she did used to do this…_ I felt a stab of pain at the thought of Yuffie taking random men into her house.

After a while talking with Yuffie, She went to get undressed and go to sleep. I merely lay down on my couch, light off, but still in full outfit: my black leather shirt, with black, spiked armor running down my left arm and hand. I had a pair of nice-fitting black pants made of a material that I couldn't identify. I even kept my black combat boots on, as well as wearing the dark grey headband that the real Yuffie had given me when we had last parted. I also had three Materia in a series of slots in my armored arm: a cure Materia, a red summonstone, and a dark green Materia containing a legendary healing spell that could heal any injury except death: I made sure only to use this when I really, really needed it. I also had one last potion in a small slot in my shoulder, with an automatic injection device there that automatically injected me with the potion if I needed it. The Materia would only activate if I told them to.

I lay there in the blackness, feigning sleep. Then I heard the slight creak as the door opened, and I felt instead of saw a figure enter the room. They fiddled around a bit with my armored hand, and in the end they left, leaving three empty slots in my hand. I knew she had taken my Materia, but it wouldn't do me any good to go after her now. Instead, I sent Nudge after her to watch her silently. When he came back, he nodded: she had gone to sleep. I turned over, and slept hard.

When I awoke it was nearly light. I leaped up. I walked to Yuffie's room, and pounded on the door.

"Yeah?" she asked, seemingly confused. She was in a white bathrobe, evidently having just risen before me.

"Where is it?" I demanded.

"Where's what?" she asked.

I got my dark look on. "I saw you last night. I wasn't asleep, ninja."

"Wait, what-" I ignored her. I pushed past her, and walked into her room. Nudge ran up to a group of boards on the floor. I walked up to them, and used my dark powers to reveal the catch. I pulled up, and the boards lifted. Inside was a large pile of Materia. There was only one dark green one. I reached down, and took it.

"Which ones of these are mine?" I asked, sliding the dark green Curagala Materia into its slot on my hand piece.

Yuffie pouted. "Come on, give a girl a break! Materia is valuable!"

"Precisely why I didn't go to sleep last night, Yuffie." I said in a slightly patronizing voice. "Now where are my cure Materia and my summonstone?" I looked again. "Of course, I could take a random summonstone, but that could mean you get to keep mine. Heck, I don't even know what my stone summoned!"

"You didn't!?" She screeched. Then she laughed again. "I had a feeling that you were more then you appeared to be! Now I know!" she clapped, before sidling up to me. I could feel her breath on my neck.

"Yuffie, please." I tried a new tactic. "Those Materia were given to me by a very special person, and I would die if I lost them!"

"I don't give up Materia for free." She frowned. "You gotta pay me somehow."

"What exactly?" I asked warily.

"There are a few things that I would like to happen. First, you gotta take Leon down a peg or two."

"Ok, no problem." I summoned Soul Eater. I had beaten Leon once in reality, and I had no doubt that he would succumb to the same strategy as before. I walked out of the house, leaving Yuffie scampering to get dressed.

"Hey Leon!" I called. Leon was practicing his sword skill in a makeshift arena in the middle of the first district. "Care for a little spar? I need to practice."

Leon hesitated, and then nodded. "All right. Have it your way."

I summoned Soul Eater. "Give me all you've got, Leon!"

We clashed; his gunblade against my Soul Eater. Leon pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a weak bolt of dark energy at him. He dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from his gunblade. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Nudge to throw me towards Leon. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Leon. Leon was distracted with fending off Nudge, and I took the opportunity to kick him down. However, Leon then summoned a circle of explosions around him, knocking Nudge into a wall. I then engaged him in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with him, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Leon, sending him flying.

"Not hurt, I hope?" I asked.

"Not a scratch!" Leon had deflected the brunt of the attack with more explosions. I growled. Nudge ran up to me and hopped on my shoulders. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to fuse with me. As a result from the excess darkness, I went darkness-form: The name I had dubbed the form of me when I had the black fighting outfit with the Heartless symbol, as well as the blindfold. I summoned the second Soul-Eater, and faced off with Leon again. Leon charged me. I deflected his gunblade with my two Soul Eaters. I launched myself into a karate kick, which missed, but I used my momentum to rebound off the wall and slam into the ground, creating a dark shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Leon, who recovered quickly, and fired a blast at me with his gunblade, knocking me from my feet. I rolled, and came up on Leon's left. I then sank into the ground, like a shadow heartless, and dashed around Leon. The wall of darkness I inscribed around him stayed there after I surfaced. Then I made the trap close in on him. However, when the wall exploded, Leon stood there, having used a Reflect spell at the last second. In anger, I slammed my swords together, and called on the power of Last Chaos, the dark keyblade. I flew at him. He tried to block my strike, but my animal strength broke his block, and pushed him back. He dodged and ran. I started spinning in a sawing motion, overcome with a peculiar bloodlust. But I couldn't kill Leon. He was my friend. I grabbed his blade with my darkness covered hand, and wrenched it away. It fell on the other side of the makeshift arena.

"Good game, Squall." I pointed my weapon away from him. Leon stood, gasping for breath.

"How did you do that?" he asked. I was about to answer when a great weight struck me from behind, and I saw Yuffie's giant shuriken fly over my head. I fell over, my dark form falling away from me.

"You idiot!" Yuffie yelled. "You could have killed him!"

"I wasn't going to kill him." I shook the ninja off. This Yuffie Kisaragi was different in many ways from the Yuffie I loved. She was louder, ruder, brasher, and more obsessed with Materia.

"Hey, did she try anything last night?" Leon whispered in my ear. I shook my head.

"I managed to defend myself." I responded quietly. "And I'm still getting my Materia back.

"Hmph." Yuffie pouted, and dragged me away. Nudge returned quietly from wherever he had quietly been in the last sixty seconds. He winked at me. I nodded. _What was that wink for?_

"Sorry to run off, but I must be going." I said, as I started walking away.

"Wait!" she cried, jumping on my back. I disentangled her from me.

"Look, I really must be going." I explained. Yuffie thought for a moment. Then she brightened.

"Take me with you!" she asked piteously, looking quite adorable for a moment.

_Actually, that's not a half bad idea. The replica would get along with this Yuffie, plus he has memories of being in love with someone named Yuffie. Plus, it would be useful having an assistant on my way up the castle._ I couldn't believe I was thinking this, but I was. Maybe I had lost my memory of common sense, but _this_ seemed like common sense.

"Tell you what…" I said, "You give me back those two Materia you owe me, and I will."

"Yay!" she squealed, and for an instant, it was the Yuffie I knew who squealed.

She disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then she re-appeared in another puff of smoke.

"Their gone!" she said, fuming.

Nudge nudged me. Then I realized. "Nudge..." I said in reproof. Although if I had known I would have never taken her along, I didn't want Nudge to get into the habit of stealing.

Nudge held out his hands, guiltily. He held a red summonstone, and a light green cure Materia. I slid them into my slots. Then I nodded to Yuffie. I then noticed a pair of strange things tucked into her belt.

"Yuffie, I need those pieces you have in your belt." I said.

"What for?" she asked. I simply held out my hand, knowing she would give them to me. She did, and I completed the card.

"What do you need cards for?" she asked.

"There's this castle that I am working my way through." I explained, thinking of an alternate story that wouldn't tell her that she was merely a replica: the knowledge that you were a fake probably would never sit well. "And it is comprised of portals. Each portal leads you to another world, and between worlds there are parts of the castle. In order to get through each portal or door, you need the correct card. In order to move up a floor in the castle, you need all the pieces of a correct card. Those pieces are scattered around through the rooms and worlds. Unfortunately, I started with no cards, so it's actually necessary for me to go through each and every door and world to get to the top."

"And once you reach the top?" she asked.

"This castle is a castle that works on memories. The higher I go, the more memories I will lose. Once I get to the top I will be put into a pod where I will sleep for about one year while my memories are being put back together." I answered honestly. I had to, or if she got hurt I would never forgive myself.

"If you're gonna lose your memories, why will you go to the top?" Good question.

"Because I need to do this to ensure that the evil people running this castle die." I said. I admit, I sounded rather bloodthirsty. "And I must get to the top in order to free the one who will put my memories back together. And also, unless I get to the top, no one in the worlds will remember me. I already have no choice: I went up a level to reach this world. Now I have lost some of my memory, so I have no choice if I want to get it back." Yuffie stared at me in admiration. _This is the kind of girl I might have dated in school. How different I am now. Now I can't think of anyone but the real Yuffie with that kind of affection._

"Sounds like fun!" she exclaimed. "Now I'm definitely going!"

_Sigh… this is gonna be a long trip…_ I thought, as I held up the completed card, and went up a level, losing one of my memories like cheap jewelry.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: _David Frostmourne: _Possessed

"Get out of my way!" I yelled, swinging my fist. My hand, wrapped with lengths of heavy chains, disintegrated a heartless.

"Don't you people ever die!" the Chris-Replica yelled. We had fought through a strange, twisted, dried out Atlantis: Evidently, the fake world had been unable to support the vast quantity of water. We were now in a small room that, according to Replica-Chris's memories, was supposed to be the world exit. We had the floor card, and were about to move up a floor. Even though we wouldn't lose memories since we were not yet at the first floor, I was still apprehensive about entering a door.

A strange white being approached. I mentally identified it: a Dusk Nobody. Dusk's were the most common type of Nobody. What was it doing in this castle, though?

Replica-Chris looked at me. "Those guys that captured us: they're the leaders of the Nobodies. I have a funny feeling that we're in for a large fight."

As soon as he spoke, we heard a sibilant hissing, and we turned around to see a man with blond hair and green evil eyes standing behind us. He was wearing the black coat. When he spoke I recognized his voice.

"Well, it seems the birds are out of the nest!" He said through clenched teeth. "It's too bad that I'll now have to destroy you: you would have made lovely experiments!" Vexen summoned his shield in front of him. The temperature in the room plummeted to about ten degrees. A plume of ice shot from the ground beneath my feet. Then Replica-Chris stepped forward.

"You just stay there, Frostmourne." He said, with a dark look in his eyes. "This guy really bugged me, so I want to kill him!"

"Perfect!" I growled sarcastically, desperately trying to wriggle out of the ice trap. _No way. This guy has seriously pissed me off. He'd better hope that the Chris-Replica finishes him off, 'cuz when I reach him he is so dead it is not funny!_

Vexen, however, had disappeared after a single hit. He had summoned a dark portal. _Coward._

"Hey Chris!" I yelled. "Mind getting me OUT OF HERE!?"

"Sure!" he said with a smile that seemed fake. He snapped his fingers, and the ice surrounding me fell open with a crack. We had just resumed walking towards the door when Chris-Replica suddenly collapsed, grasping his head.

"Chris, what's wrong?" I asked, alarmed. He replied in a weak voice.

"Voice… no… its inside me… it's coming… it's…. It's… NO!" he yelled, grabbing his head and thrashing. "It's _him_!"

I stood over him, helpless. I didn't know what was wrong! I forced myself to breath deeply. What was wrong here? I then saw a shape start to form in Replica-Chris's hands: the shape of a double ended katana. _I know that shape! _The Replica had all of the signs of attempted possession: dilated pupils, spasms, pain, voices in head, and manifestation of weapons. However, I was useless at this stuff.

A small figure in a black coat rushed by me. He kneeled down at Replica-Chris's side. He placed his hand over his head, and it glowed with light for a few moments. I was still at a loss. I could honestly say that it was the first time. Then the Replica stilled, and lay silent, his eyes closed. Then the small figure looked at me.

"Well, Frostmourne, it's been quite a while since I assigned you your mission. Have you completed it?"

My jaw didn't seem to be working properly. Then I managed to utter two words.

"You're Majesty?"

"Who else?" King Mickey of Disney Castle flipped down the hood on his coat, revealing himself. "I _did _escape into here only moments before this one." He gestured to the sleeping form of the Chris-Replica. "I had been looking for him here, but he must have assumed that I escaped somewhere else."

"What was wrong with him?" I asked. "Was it possession?"

"I'm afraid so." King Mickey frowned, his nose wrinkling up. "And I fear that it was almost successful."

"Was it… Was it him?" I asked. The King nodded gravely.

"It was Johnson." He said quietly. "His remnants are inside the Chris-Replica." He turned to me. "Hold out your hands. I got trapped in a card, I'm afraid, to I can't be around for more then ten minutes. You'll have to carry the card with you in order to take me with you."

"Wait, I thought that if a group of people were equals they could go together without entering cards!" I protested.

"Unfortunately, that isn't actually the case." The King frowned again. "The Replica believed that was the case because you hadn't turned into a card, but in actuality that isn't how it works. I too had assumed that was the case, but I was proven wrong. You see, _you _are the thing that has meddled with the equation of Castle Oblivion."

"Me?" I asked, pointing to myself. "Why me?" The King looked pained for a moment, but then regained his composure.

"You never knew where you came from, did you?" he asked quietly. I shook my head.

"The ones who took care of me, they said that they had found me in Disney Castle one day, abandoned there." I said slowly. "They said that they didn't know who put me there."

"That was not true." The King said slowly. "In truth, you are not your seeming twenty-six years of age, but you are much, much older. As am I."

_WHAT!?!?!?!?! _I felt something in me start to smolder. _So everything I've every believed was a lie? How dare this mouse, this KING, this person that I thought I could trust, who treated me as a son, tell me that now? I thought that I could trust the King!_

"Before you try and murder me for what I did," the King said quietly, "let me tell you my reasons for doing that." I swallowed my anger, with much difficulty. I would hear his explanation… _THEN _I would grill him.

King Mickey Mouse brought out a green card. "It would be easier to show you." He placed the card to my forehead, and an amazing story began unfolding inside my head…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: ????? _: _Capture

_Fools._ I stood overlooking the castle that supposedly held one of the keys to darkness. _They may be powerful, but I doubt that they can stand before the tides of pure darkness!_

"I can hear you." I turned, my long white hair swaying. I folded my arms. "You aren't going to be able to hide your presence from me with mere _illusions._"

"Very well…" a figure with a large pink and silver scythe appeared in front of me, wearing a black coat and sporting a pink hairdo. "You will-." He started, surprised. "Lord Xemnas! What are you doing here?"

"Arranging your funeral." I drilled him with a deathly gaze. **(cue song "Ansem's Theme")**

"No… you aren't Lord Xemnas… Could it be you, Xehanort?"

I laughed diabolically. "Do not even think it for a moment, Nobody!" I began hovering. Behind me, I summoned my heartless guardian.

"What are you, a heartless?" he growled. He readied his scythe for combat.

My red eyes glowed with pleasure. "By fate's hand, the darkness will consume you!" I teleported directly behind him, and sent him flying with a blow from my guardian's huge claws. The pink-haired nobody got up, seemingly furious. He ran at me, swinging his scythe in circles. I merely stretched out my hand, and his attacks bounced off of the invisible shield of darkness that I had summoned. No matter how many times he tried to attack me, it was the same. It was hell getting the timing perfect. I had to extend my hand at just the right moment, or the shield wouldn't nullify his attack.

He twirled his scythe, and summoned a flood of blood-red sakura petals. _Flowers??? Honestly, what is he thinking?_ I caught one of the petals as it flew past me, and got a cut for my pains. _Hmm... Razor edged sakura petals flying in a near unavoidable frenzy… I like that. _However, even that was useless: I merely summoned a large cloud of flying heartless to surround me, which bore the attack for me. _Feel honored to die for me, you hearts of darkness!_ When the cloud cleared, I saw the man crouched, tired.

"No… how did you..?" he was shocked. I readied to blast him into oblivion.

Then I felt a large weight on the back of my head, and I fell…

* * * * * * * *

I awoke in an agony.

Looking around, attempting to block out the pain, I saw that I was being held in midair by beams of electricity. Around my neck was a collar… _NO! _I screamed in my mind. I recognized the collar. It was one that I had experimented with before I had become a heartless: one that suppressed all power.

_This is not over!_ I fumed. _I will find my real body. And I will have my revenge!_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Chris Talonflight_: _Memorial

I had been going through the castle for a while now. I estimated we were over halfway up. The replica of Yuffie Kisaragi was tired too.

"That's it. I can't keep going." She panted.

"Come on, I thought ninja's were supposed to have a lot of endurance." I shook my head. "Come on, there's the door to the end of this place. I never liked Halloween Town anyway." We had been through Olympus and then through Agrabah and now were nearing the end of Halloween Town.

We approached the door to the next floor. I once again took a measure of my remaining memory: _let's see… We still have to battle a few Organization XIII members… and… what was her name… she was… Yuffie!?_ I struggled to remember her name… the name of the one who I loved…

"What are you thinking about?" Yuffie-Replica asked. _Wait… since when was she a replica… Urgh! I'm going crazy! I know that there was this girl with her name, and I know that I loved her but who was she? Could it be that this girl I call the Yuffie-Replica IS that girl? It's just so confusing! _ I remembered that I had met Yuffie in Traverse Town, and I had risked my life to save her. But Castle Oblivion had wrecked my memory. Hell, at this rate, I probably _would _end up in love with this girl that I called Yuffie.

"Yuffie, can you remember anything about your past life?" I asked her. She thought for a moment.

"I remember that I was born in Wutai, and that I got mad at this group of people called the Shinra Company for outlawing Materia. I then went out on my own to counter Shinra. During my excursions I met Cloud and Tifa and Barret and the rest of those guys. Then in the middle of my job a huge darkness came out of nowhere and our universe was crammed together into a world called Radiant Garden, and it was ravaged by darkness for weeks. Two of my friends died, but most of us pulled through. Then one day the darkness lifted. We lived in peace for about a year, but then our world was attacked again. We moved to Traverse Town, and we've been there ever since." She looked at me quizzically. "Why?"

"I'm checking if your memory is being affected. From what I can tell, it isn't." I shrugged. All I knew is that we had to find Namine.

"Hey lovebirds!" there was a jeer. I looked ahead, and saw a blonde girl with several Kunais standing there. "You really are stupid." **(Cue Larxene's Theme)**

"Your face." I retorted. I summoned my dark keyblade, Last Chaos. "Stay back, Yuffie."

"But I wanna help you!" she protested.

"I know that." I said, getting into the Riku combat pose. "But you wouldn't be able to here. This… is something I must do alone." I said this because I knew that Yuffie would most likely die if she tried to fight Larxene.

"Ooh, my hero!" Larxene snickered sarcastically.

"Let's get this over with." I growled.

Larxene summoned a cloud of lighting bolts. I dodged nimbly. I slid behind her, and engulfed her in a wave of darkness. Larxene merely teleported out of the way, and ended up above me. She went into her hyperspeed rampage. I went through nearly twenty different teleportation moves to avoid it. Larxene then started slicing at me. I managed to smack her away with my sword. She swiped at me at blurring speed, and I only barely managed to block the strike. Had not Soul Eater been what it was, I would have died. Then I attacked her, slashing with the power of darkness. My blade broke through the guard of the flying kunais, snapping through metal, and then through flesh.

"You may be a member of the Organization," I said, standing over her, watching her begin to vanish, "But _I _am a keyblade master." Larxene disappeared, and in her place laid the floor card. (_**YAYY! WE GET TO SKIP THE STUPID MONSTRO LEVEL!)**_

I went back to Yuffie. She was stunned.

"Are you… are you really still going through with this?" she asked.

"Yes." I said. "I swore. And I will never break that promise!"

Yuffie smiled. Then she leaned forwards and kissed me. I was surprised. She then slid back, blushing. "I don't know why I did that." Then she ran away, laughing, and we went up a floor. Surprisingly, this time I did not check my memory. I didn't need to.

We stepped out on the next floor. Ahead of us there was a deviating passage that led off to the right.

"Which way do we go?" I asked. Yuffie shrugged. I looked at her.

"Well, let's just go here." I decided, and walked down the deviating passage. Before long we could hear the sounds of a man in pain.

"Watch out." I said, summoning Soul Eater. We rounded a corner, and there before us was a man suspended by electric beams. With a quick slash, I destroyed the beam emitters, and the man fell to the floor.

"You all right?" I asked the man. "These Organization creeps really are bastards, aren't they?"

The man looked up. I instantly recognized the long white hair, the red eyes, and the outfit.

"Who are you, boy?" he asked. "Why did you free me?"

"Any enemy of those black coated guys is a friend of mine." I said. "Isn't that right, Ansem?"

Ansem stood, smiling slightly in a feral way. "True. Now," a huge guardian heartless appeared behind him, "Who are you?"

"Chris Talonflight." I said, unfazed by his power. "Wielder of Darkness." That sparked his interest.

"So you too have a talent for wielding the darkness." He said. "Tell me: where am I?"

"Castle Oblivion." I answered promptly. "One if the fortresses belonging to a group of Nobodies."

"Hmph." He grunted. "Weak fools." He began striding out towards the exit. "I have better things to do then to waste my time with them!"

"Ansem." My voice halted him. "I have a request." A plan had been forming in my agile mind, and now I decided to see if it would work. "Wouldn't you like to get your body back?"

Ansem stopped. "How did you know I am a Heartless?"

"I can sense that you are missing a material body, and have thus been granted one of darkness." I commented lightly.

"And what do you mean by getting me my body?" he asked.

"The leader if this organization, his name is Xemnas. Switch that up a bit and minus the X and you have Ansem. Plus the fact that we already know that he is your Nobody. He's quite powerful, I should say." I said this all in a matter-of-fact tone. "I should expect that even you would have trouble with him."

"And what is in it for you?"

This was where I made my effort: "I want to train my power under you." This was a desperate idea indeed! "Only you have the skill with darkness to show me my full potential. In exchange for your training, I will assist you in getting your body back."

"Hmm…" Ansem seemed to debate it in his mind.

_Come on. _I thought. _I need you to teach me more about the darkness! Every time I go up one level I lose a bit of my skill with this power. At this rate I will be nearly defenseless when I finally reach Marluxia! Come on, Ansem!_

"You've got guts, boy, asking a Heartless master to be your trainer." Ansem said with a slight smile. "I like that." He walked over to me and Yuffie. "Very well. I will take you up on your offer."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Zexion_: _Clueless

"Well, what is it this time, Vexen?" I asked impatiently. "This had better be good."

"Ahh, Zexion!" the gold haired-green-eyed Nobody approached. He was wearing the black coat that was donned by all of the Organization, and was sitting at a computer screen. "We have a situation."

"What is it?" I asked impatiently again.

"Those three intruders that we captured," his eyes glowed, "They are most unique. In fact, one of them is a replica that was built right here in this very castle."

"I see." I said dryly. "And what is it that you propose?"

"I cannot propose anything!" he threw up his hands in frustration. "The replica is obviously a replica, so there would be no point in replicating the replica. As for the other two, one of them is encoded as a card, and thus he is untouchable. The last one is one that captures my attention, though."

"And what is it that captures your attention, Vexen?" I really didn't want to know, but there was no point, since he would tell me anyway.

"He is a product of millennia of genetic engineering!" he proclaimed. "Thousands of famous, infamous, and unknown heroes and villains make up his genetics! In, fact, I would go so far as to say that he is the end result of all Heroes!"

I snorted. "You woke me up from my nap for that? I'm going back to bed." I turned, but not before I heard Vexen's next bright idea.

"I wonder how long it will take me to loose _his _replica upon the intruders..." Vexen giggled evilly. I groaned, and walked back to my sleeping quarters.

_I really don't like that mad scientist!_ I thought as I lay down, and slept.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: David Frostmourne_: _Historical Setting

"So that's it." I slumped against the wall. The King had finished his story, and the results had left me flabbergasted. And I didn't appreciate the knowledge that I wasn't merely twenty six, but much, much older.

I had been born before the worlds had been separated by darkness from two humans: one of them a native of Chris's home world, and another from a long-forgotten world called Insomnion; father's name had been Master Chief Spartan 117, and my mother had been the Mistress of Light Sera Areutsana. Since birth, I had been in suspended animation, where into my mind had been placed select genes of past warriors both good and bad: Terra the Keyblade wielder; Kratos the God of War; Altair and Eizo the Assassins; Sephiroth the Dark Harbinger of Jenova; Oruchimaru the Ninja; even from the Lord of Heartless, and that was to name only the more popular ones: no one has heard of Arc and Radian, the two Brothers Of Night from a parallel history and a forgotten world, nor have they heard of Aran Stringer the Lord of Blades, as well as Xiel the Hybrid Nobody. When I had awoken during the current millennium, I had genes from all sorts of different worlds and beings. I was so complex that Castle Oblivion could not encode nor understand me, and thus I was exempt from all of its rules.

"So, I know what I am. What now? How do we get out of here?" I asked.

"I don't know." The king slumped, fiddling with his tail.

"You stay here for a bit, you're Majesty." I said. "I'm going to look further down this hallway."

I had been walking for quite a while, but there was no door in sight. The hall had turned several times, and I was no longer in sight or hearing of the King.

"Hold it!" I turned towards the sound. There was…

… Me.** (Cue song "Points of Authority" by Linkin Park)**

"Who are you?!" I asked.

"I'm you." He said, tossing something towards me. I reached out on instinct and snatched it. It was…

A double ended katana. Johnson's weapon. Johnson was a powerful Master of Darkness and a former keyblade wielder, and had been trying to unlock Kingdom Hearts. He would have succeeded in engulfing all the worlds in darkness had it not been for Chris's action. This double ended katana was his weapon. As I watched, the other me wielded a weapon of the same sort.

"I will kill you!" he yelled, and charged towards me. I blocked with the katana.

_What is this? Johnson's weapon… it feels so familiar… as if I've used it before…_ Indeed it seemed I had, because I was pretty good with it. I seemed to know instinctively what to do. _One of my "fathers", probably._ I thought, as I kicked the other me away. It was a replica, probably. But no replica had anything on me.

I lashed out with the sword, while trapping the replica's blades with my chain-covered hand. My weapon cut into the replica's shoulder.

"Ahh!" the replica fell back, bleeding.

"If you can't keep up," I said, twirling the double-katana, "don't step up." I had thought that this might be the case. Just as I wasn't good at defending against my own moves, neither was my replica. A simple attack would undo him.

"Here" The replica tossed me something. "You earned them. Besides, I don't like them that much anyhow." It was my old punching gauntlets, complete with the serrated wings that doubled as swords.

"I don't know what you want with me." I said as I strapped on the gauntlets, "but try not to kill me." I turned and walked away. The replica disappeared in a portal of darkness, whispering: "I'll be back."

When I arrived back at the place I had left the king, I saw that the Replica was still unconscious.

"How is he?" I asked, concerned.

"On his deathbed!" a voice behind us proclaimed. I and the King turned simultaneously.

"I don't know what you're doing here," a huge man with a giant axe-sword stood behind us, "But you must be eliminated." He was wearing a no-nonsense expression, and was built like a rock. "My name is Lexaeus."

"I'll take him out." I said. "You guard the Replica, your Majesty." I stepped forwards.

"But David, if you get injured, I don't have much more magic to cure you with!"

"Then I _won't _get injured." I growled.

Lexaeus and I faced off. I flicked my wrists, and the two metal wings that ran along my arms flipped up into my hands, like a pair of short swords. Lexaeus merely lifted his huge sword. I swung my fist, and it bounced off Lexaeus's sword. Lexaeus then ran forwards. His swing seemed to cleave me, but I wasn't there. I was behind him, flipping down my wing-swords back into punching position. I began punching Lexaeus in the face, several hits, too close in for Lexaeus's sword to be of much use. I managed to kick Lexaeus after the punch combo before Lexaeus swatted me away with the axe-sword. I landed on my feet, and we faced off again. I went for a sliding kick to the feet, which Lexaeus easily jumped over. While Lexaeus was turning around, I was already there, and I threw Lexaeus to the edge of the arena. I managed to rebound off the wall and kick Lexaeus in the face several times, before Lexaeus flung me away with a single strike again. Lexaeus launched into a series of slashing combos, which I had trouble deflecting because of the massive size and weight of his weapon. However, once the combo ended, I leaped on top of Lexaeus, driving him to the floor, and pushed off of Lexaeus, slamming him into the floor while I used the push to land safely. However, Lexaeus slashed a weak swing with his sword, which sent me flying towards a wall. I thought that I would splatter like an egg on the wall, but I landed, impossibly, and rebounded off the wall to slam an unsuspecting Lexaeus into the ground, drag him forwards, throw him into the air, and send his flying into a pile of jars with a blast from my stun blaster, which, incidentally was set to the LETHAL setting.

Then Lexaeus emerged from the pile. You could see that he had passed his limit. He was beginning to fade away.

"You… haven't… really… won!" he said. Then he slammed his axe-sword into the floor, and a huge abyss appeared below us. We all fell into it, with the exception of the dying Lexaeus, who was safely lying on a small ledge in what remained of the hallway.

"MAKE IT STOP!" The replica screamed, grasping his head. Suddenly we were engulfed in darkness, and we seemed to pass through a portal. Then I felt myself hit something. It felt like a rocky floor. I sat up, opening my eyes. I was in a large cave. Looking around, I saw King Mickey, with the Replica.

"He is not strong enough to suppress Johnson." King Mickey shook his head. "He just sent us into the World of Darkness."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" I asked, desperate now. Chris and I were kindred souls, so to speak. When I had met him, it was as if we had instantly _clicked._ Now, although I knew that the Replica wasn't Chris, I still didn't want anything to happen to him.

The King hesitated. "There is one way, but we really can't-"

"TELL ME THE GODDAM WAY!" I roared.

"There is a way to transfer the possession to a person with a stronger will, a person who is more likely to dominate him. It would also give the person who is possessed a reserve of dark powers to call upon when he really needs them. However, I don't think that I could-"

"Who said anything about you?" I retorted. "You are the king. We cannot afford to have you possessed. No… I will do it."

"But David!" The King protested. "Even if we managed to get the possession transferred, you shouldn't-"

"I WILL DO IT!" I yelled. "His life may not mean much to you, but this person is my friend. And I am not about to let him die!"

The King got really quiet. Then he nodded. "All right."

I stood over the unconscious Replica, and placed one hand on his forehead, and the other on his shoulder. I repeated the words that the king told me. Then It all went fuzzy, and I felt myself collapsing-

I stood, seemingly fine.

"Frostmourne? Are you all right?" The King asked me.

"Yes... I think." I looked at my hands. They were grasping Johnson's weapon.

"Where did you get that?" the King asked. I told him the story of how I had been attacked by my replica.

"So, there's a replica of you that is after your blood." He shook his head. "I don't know how this can be worse."

A loud roar shook the darkness around us. I shook my head. _Things can ALWAYS be worse._

"What should we do with the Chris-Replica?" I didn't want him to be injured.

"You should leave me alone, and watch me kick some Heartless ass." Replica-Chris sat up. "Look out!" he threw his hand out, in the precise posture for throwing a dark beam. I whirled, swinging my fist. It slammed through a heartless.

"What the-" Replica-Chris said, while repeating the posture several times. However, nothing happened. Then he held his hand in front of him for a while, in his weapon summoning position. An expression on potent disbelief filled his face.

"No way! This isn't fair!" he yelled. He slammed his fist into the ground several times.

"Chris, what's wrong?" I asked. Replica-Chris started crying.

"I… I can't…" He stammered. "I don't have my powers anymore."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Chris-Replica_: _Pain

I really hated this.

When I awoke to find that I could no longer wield the Darkness, I was devastated. My friend, David, had helped me, but it wasn't much. Supposedly, I had been possessed by Johnson, and David Frostmourne had taken the possession onto himself. Sure, I was glad that I wasn't dead because of the possession, but WHY DID IT STEAL AWAY MY POWERS WITH IT?!?!?!

The King and Frostmourne hadn't wanted to do it, but since I was now relatively defenseless, they had no choice. The king opened a portal of light, and I was sent to Traverse Town.

"Hey, Leon!" I called, recognizing the man from Chris's memories.

"Huh?" he said. He squinted at me. "You… you look familiar. What's your name?"

"You wouldn't remember it if I told you, But I did know you once." I said. "I'm a replica of a person who you once were quite good friends with. Sadly, he is no longer here." I entered the accessory shop.

"Hey you!" Yuffie said, standing. _So this is the girl that Chris loves… Heh… she's cute._ "Don't I know you?"

"Perhaps." I said. "You're Yuffie, right?"

"You got it!" she said happily. "We're just about to bring the last few shipments of supplies to Hollow Bastion to rebuild it. We leave tomorrow."

I turned to Leon. "Is it alright if I bring my friend in here?"

"Who's your friend?" he asked.

"A Neoshadow."

"Certainly not." Leon said sternly. "We don't want any Heartless in here."

"Relax, he's tame." I chuckled. "You see, it's quite a long story…"

Once I had finished telling the tale of Chris & Co.'s previous adventure, there was a stunned silence. Of course, I had left out the part about Chris and Yuffie being in love. It wouldn't do to burden her.

"That's one helluva story." Leon summed it all up. "But frankly, I don't remember anyone named Chris."

"Ah, but you wouldn't, now." I smiled. "Because his memories are being contained. Don't worry though: you will remember him eventually: in about one year! Go ahead, wait and see if I'm right! I promise: I will be!"

"You're pretty confident." Yuffie frowned.

"Because I know it's true." I said.

The end result of all of this banter was a place for me to sleep for the night and a free meal.

_So these are the people who Chris is friends with._ I thought as I lay in my bed that night. _Their… okay._

**(Cue song "Imperfection" by Nickelback) **A large invisible shockwave rang through the house as something inside me wrenched itself. I began writhing. I fell from the bed clutching my head. A strange shadow leaked from me, and began taking form right in front of me.

"Good to see you… TOY!" it hissed.

"Shut up!" I kicked Johnson in the face. He reeled back, and then grabbed me and threw me through the floor.

"You… Bastard!" I hissed Chris's favorite insult through my teeth.

"Language young one, language!" Johnson laughed.

"How are you here?" I yelled. "They removed the possession!"

"Yes, they did!" Johnson laughed. "But I managed to split my being! You thought you were so clever to change my position, but I was still here all along!"

"Then what did we set into Frostmourne?!" I yelled.

"You sent into your friend the greater portion of me." He explained. "I am merely a fraction of my full power. Nevertheless, I am still more then adequate to destroy you and your puny friends." He raised his hands above him, and a ball of pure darkness appeared above them. "And now, say goodbye to your life, your friends, and this world!" The ball of darkness shot down towards me. I barely had time to throw up my hands in a defensive posture before I was thrown back into a wall. I looked up. Leon was charging at Johnson. Johnson merely stretched out his hand, and Leon was thrown back by some invisible force. Cloud tried the same tactic, with the same result. Then Johnson picked me up by my shirt, and threw me through another wall. I felt something snap inside me: I had just broken a rib. The pain was excruciating. Johnson placed his hand on my face, and then my head snapped back with the force of the explosion of darkness emanating from it. Johnson wasn't even using a weapon! If only I still had my dark powers!

"My my, you are lasting much longer then I expected!" Johnson said.

A giant shuriken came flying out of nowhere and smacked Johnson in the head, causing a gash on the back of his head. Johnson turned his too-perfect face towards the source of the weapon.

"Get away from him, you creep!" Yuffie shouted.

_No Yuffie! _I tried to shout, but my voice wouldn't work. _Don't do it! He'll kill you!_

"Hello once again, TOY." He sneered at Yuffie. Yuffie ran at him screaming, but Johnson merely slammed her with a blast of dark energy. Yuffie went flying backwards, slammed her head on the wall, and fell down, unmoving. Her eyes were closed.

_NO!_ I screamed silently. _Not Yuffie!_

Then a black form leaped onto Johnson's back, scratching and tearing at him. Johnson thrashed wildly, and then reached back and dragged the thing off of him. It was Trufflehunter, my Neoshadow.

"Die, you sorry excuse for a Heartless!" Johnson hurled Trufflehunter through a wall, where he lay, seemingly dead.

_YOU BASTARD!_ I screamed. Then something snapped inside me. I stood.

_I WILL NOT ALLOW MY FRIENDS TO DIE! _I screamed. I suddenly knew what it was that I needed to have.

I sprinted out the door. Johnson laughed manically, and chased. _Only one thing can help me now. _I ran through the second district, watching the startled and scared faces of those who observed Johnson chasing me like a wild maniac. I cut through the third district, and ran into a certain house. Running up the stairs, I opened a secret drawer. I lifted out of it a small, black orb.

"What could you possibly find interesting in my house, toy?" Johnson had just reached the entrance to the house. I grabbed the black orb and slammed it into my chest. I felt the dark energy coursing though me. Johnson looked at me, and then he began shaking with rage.

"The Materia was MINE!" he screeched. I had probed Chris's memories, and I had recalled something about there being a changeable Materia. Chris had one, and Johnson was supposed to have one. It made sense that the ruler of the Endless Abyss would make a Materia of Darkness. As it turned out, Johnson's pride would be my only hope.

"Hey bastard!" I called. I was crackling with immense dark energy. "You thought you, won, huh?" I summoned a weapon. It was my Black Faker keyblade.

"Fool." He snorted. "Not even a keyblade can save you now. You are injured, and the power of the Black Materia will not last you for long."

"Well then." I raised my keyblade to the sky, and a huge storm of darkness began gathering. "I'll just have to make the best of it." _I'm sorry, David Frostmourne._ I thought. _Looks like I wont be able to meet you in the King's arena after all. Please look out for Chris, and everyone else. I hope that you can forgive this sacrifice._

Then I slammed my keyblade into the ground. A circle of darkness inscribed itself around Johnson, with a six pointed star of darkness inside it.

"Dark Hexagram!" I yelled. The Hexagram sealed itself, and the entire storm of darkness began raging inside the pentagram. Johnson was engulfed by darkness. I screamed out all of my fury, all of my agony, and all of my pain. As well as my love, my friends, my heart, my soul, and my life. I became an embodiment of pure energy, and that energy exploded in the dark hexagram. As I did this, I saw Johnson's face, and heard his last words.

"So," he gasped. "You have finally learned to do what is necessary. My son."

"I'm no son of yours." I uttered, and Johnson faded away.

* * * * * * * **(Cue song "Valentines Day" by Linkin Park)**

I lay there under the wreckage of the building. Nearly seven stories of brick and concrete lay above me. I was insanely glad that I had defeated Johnson. However, there was a price to pay.

Trufflehunter nudged me. He had somehow survived. My Neoshadow stood beside me in a small pocket in the rubble. I reached weakly out and petted him.

"It's all right now, Trufflehunter." I whispered. "You are safe." The pain was increasing.

Trufflehunter gave me a questioning look and a squeal. I smiled sadly.

"Well, you know how it is. If someone puts their whole being into an attack, well, that person goes kaput. At least, that's true for us that don't have real hearts." It was true. I didn't have a real heart. I was a fake, a replica. But still… I liked being alive, at least for the short time I was. "You have to take care of the others now." I said to Trufflehunter. "Tell them… tell them that… I'm… okay." I closed my eyes, and felt my friend depart.

There wasn't any more pain.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Ashley Luciano_: _Earth

"Hey C!" I called. My friend stood up from his guitar playing on the front steps of our school building and walked towards me.

"Hey Ashley." C grinned. "How's everything?"

"It's… okay." I smiled. "I was actually thinking about going to see Leon and the rest of them today. We still need to let them know that we defeated Johnson. After all, it _has _been nearly a week."

"Nearly a WEEK!?" he yelled. "Then we REALLY need to. Besides, I've been itching to use my Demyx Guitar to drown some heartless." I giggled at that.

"Yeah, and I still need to practice with my keyblade." I sighed. "And maybe this time we'll find Rodney."

"Yeah." A cloud of gloom fell on us. Our friend Rodney had been captured by our worst enemy, Johnson, and he had been turned into a strange type of hybrid between a human, heartless, nobody, and Universed. He had been being mind controlled by Johnson when we had last seen him. C had fought him so that the rest of us could chase after Johnson. However, midway through C's attacks Rodney had suddenly fled the scene, and none of us had been able to find him. We still thought of him as a friend.

"Hey, you want to stay at my place tonight?" C offered. "Then first thing tomorrow we can go to Traverse Town."

"I think that's a good idea." I admitted. We started walking down a secluded alley, a shortcut to C's house. Suddenly, on the ground, a shadow appeared, with two yellow orbs for eyes. Only one. A Neoshadow appeared from it.

"I'll take him!" I said, and I summoned my Keyblade, Lurebreaker. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, I was a keyblade master.

The Neoshadow didn't move to attack, it merely stood there. I hesitated. I didn't like killing things that weren't attacking me. Then the Neoshadow squeaked.

"Wait… that sounded exactly like Nudge." I whispered. Then the Neoshadow shook its head.

"Are you a tame heartless?" C asked it. The Neoshadow nodded. Then I remembered.

"That guy, Chris, he had a Neoshadow as his tame heartless. Maybe this is his!" I exclaimed. The Neoshadow nodded.

"… Trufflehunter, right?" I asked. Trufflehunter nodded. He then took out a note.

I picked it up. Looking inside it, I saw a badly written note.

"_My friends. It's certainly been a while. I'm writing this note as I lay under seven buildings. Funny, huh? I want you to know that Johnson has been defeated utterly. Since you have both played Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, you should have some idea of what is happening now. You probably won't remember me. I just want to let you know that I am dying. You know ho wit is when a replica puts his entire self into an attack. Anyway, I just want you to know that… *LARGE INK SMUDGE* I don't know how to say this, but watch out for Trufflehunter. Keep him in memory of me. He was my best friend. See you in a Year. - Replica-Chris Vasquez"_

The note brought tears to my eyes. "I don't even remember him." I said.

"I don't feel like going to see Leon and the others anymore." C said quietly. I nodded.

C and I walked down the street in silence, Trufflehunter walking with us.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Yuffie Stromwind_:_ HUH?!?!?!

I lay in the wreckage of the Accessory shop in Traverse Town. _What happened to bringing the shipments to Hollow Bastion? _ I thought. I was pinned under a bit of rubble. My worst enemy, Johnson, had trapped me here.

Suddenly, I heard a voice. Then I felt the rubble being lifted off of me. A hand reached down to me. The hand was that of a cyborg. I nearly screamed.

"You okay?" the voice said. I looked up. There, standing above me, was a familiar face. "It was hard enough dispelling the darkness and Nobody material from my body, not to even mention the Universed stuff. I will be appalled if you don't recognize me." He said. The young man was wearing a grey cloak with the hood down. His hair was dark brown. Although one of his eyes had been replaced by a cyber optic, he still looked the same. In fact, in all hilariousness, I thought he looked cooler!

"R…Rod… No, it can't be!" I said, happily. Although I was sad for what Rodney had become, there was no use dwelling on it.

"Yes it's me." Rodney said. Although it couldn't have been easy, being part robot, he seemed to have dealt quite well with his… problem. "Don't ask how I'm here. It's painful enough."

"Okay, I won't." I said fondly. While I didn't like Rodney in the romantic sense, he was funny, and acted like a friend of mine that I had lost during the Cataclysm: Tidus.

"Where's Leon and the rest of them?" he asked. "I'm freaking hungry. And what happened to this place?"

"I'll go see if we can get you some food." I said with a smile. I ran through the hole in the wall until I found Leon.

"LEON STOP SLEEPING AND GHET OVER HERE!" I sang loudly into Leon's ear. Leon stumbled around, half dead. He had been knocked unconscious by Johnson.

"Whaizit?" he slurred.

"Rodney's back!" I said in excitement, forgetting for the moment our strange visitor and Johnson.

"Where?" Leon was awake instantly, and stalked into the living room.

"Hey Leon!" Rodney said, sitting down at what was left of our table. "What happened to the house?"

"Johnson." Leon said grimly. "We had a guest, also, right before he came. Said his name was Chris-Replica, and he needed a place to stay for the night. Told us that Johnson had been defeated, but evidently, he was wrong."

Rodney smiled. "Actually, He was right. You see, Leon, Johnson's death doesn't mark the end of the Kingdom Hearts series, or the visions of your stepbrother who designed the game. You see, the next game in chronological order is called RE: Chain of Memories…"

After Rodney finished explaining, Leon asked him a question.

"how did you get away from Johnson?"

Rodney's eyes had a faraway look in them. "let me tell you, it was no picnic…"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Rodney Castro: _Rodney's Story_: Sea vs. Storm

**(Note: this is a recounting of a battle that took place in the previous story. I was planning on including it in the ending of Kingdom Hearts: Light of Happiness, its predecessor, but things didn't work out that well. Master of Lightning, this is for you!)**

**(Cue "Simple and Clean PlanitB Remix" by Utada Hikaru)**

_A wave of water came flying at me. I slammed my katana-broadsword combination weapon into the ground and sent a wall of electricity to block it. The electricity traveled up the wave, and slammed into C, knocking him down. C used his water powers to dash around, throwing up columns of water in his wake. He dashed around me in a circle, and tried to entrap me in a whirlpool. I merely slammed my sword into the ground, and an electric shockwave slammed back the enclosing water walls. C was shocked again and again._

_ "You fool." I smirked. "Water conducts electricity! You don't have a prayer!"_

_ C rose on his feet, and then started sending out his water clones. "I don't care what you are anymore, but stop using Rodney's body!"_

_ "You idiot." I said, flipping back my hood entirely. "I AM Rodney!" I charged through the mass of swirling water, and tried to cleave C in two. However, C blocked the strike with the neck of him water guitar, and punched me with his fist. I staggered back. Then I raised my sword again._

_ "Seems like I have to do this after all." C raised his guitar to the sky, and then slammed it down onto the ground. "If my water powers have little effect on you… I'll just have to use brute force!" his guitar shattered. Then the little pieces of the guitar came together and formed themselves into a sword with a blade that was emblazoned with a water pattern. The pommel stone was in the shape of a fish. "Like it? I practiced it in Traverse Town every day in the hope that I could use it to bring you back. A pity that I have to use it to destroy you!" he ran at me and we locked blades. I used a blast of darkness and Nothing to send me flying through the roof. I landed on the rooftops of the Heartless castle._

_ We fought on the rooftops as darkness seemed to fill the sky. I grew aware of clouds obscuring the sun with a dark, green-tinted black. C charged me, and I hurled him across the roof, flying through a glass wall into a window. I followed, and we fought until we again locked blades. This time, he did not falter._

_"Oh, where did you get this kind of strength?" I taunted in the silky, deadly voice C hated so much._

_"I'm not about to tell you!" he said as he pushed me through the window. I was feeling the similarities in the way we fought through our twin weapons: his of water, mine of electricity. I leaped up another story until I reached a balcony. I heard steel ripping behind me, and I turned in time to see the wall swinging out towards me. I hurled myself onto the next tower's roof._

_ C was waiting. We engaged in mortal combat until I leaped away, into midair, propelling myself up towards the top of the tallest building in the city._

_ "I've thought of a wonderful present for you…" I began, as I sliced off a support pillar which C nimbly dodged in midair as he followed me in my upward course. We were nearly at the top._

_ "… Shall I give you Death!?" he roared._

_ He gave me a tremendous blow, and I felt myself falling. Instinctively, I rammed my sword into the wall and balanced myself on its hilt._

_ C crouched high above me on a ledge, smug. "On your knees. I want you to beg for forgiveness!"_

_ "Stop quoting Sephiroth!" I snarled._

_ He gave the building a tremendous blow, and the entire eight stories above us began to fall down upon us._

_ I separated my katana and broadsword to form my two deadly weapons. Grabbing both swords, I ran up the wall and leaped upwards, through the rain of concrete, slicing blocks in half with a blow of each of my swords so that I could get through. All of a sudden C was there, and we fought in midair. I landed on a landing, in the middle of the falling debris and C rained blows upon me as I countered them with my dual blades._

_ Knowing that he couldn't keep this up for much longer, I leaped out of the rain of steel and landed on another nearby rooftop. I reunited my blades into the single weapon Thunderedge as I jumped, and when I landed I nearly collapsed._

_ "He's so fast, and his weapon...what is that thing? I'm too tired." I thought as I panted for breath. Then C arrived, and he managed to deliver a punch to the jaw. He then grabbed me and threw me against the wall, where my weapon fell out of my hand. However, I retorted with a blast of Nothing and darkness, and I gabbed my weapon. Then a huge tidal wave engulfed me. I felt something snap in my left arm. Then there was pain._

_ "You idiot!" I yelled. My left arm was robotic, and C's blast of water had just short circuited the system! He threw me up into the air, slashing brutally as we went. My arms, my cheek, my leg, my wrist, my head, my shoulders, my chest, my back, all were sliced. Then he grabbed me in midair and threw me to the ground painfully. A single tear of rage slid down his cheek as he hesitated, about to give the killing strike. I took that hesitation._

_ I teleported right next to him, and hurled him to the ground. He fell unconscious._

_ "I didn't want to kill you." I realized. At that realization, thousands of images came crashing through my mind, and I realized my entire past. Suddenly, my arm started moving on its own. I remembered what Johnson had told me._

_ "The moment you regain your memory, you will probably betray me." I realized that he had spoken the truth. I realized that the robotic arm Johnson had given me to replace my old one was one that was controlled by him._

_ I grabbed the chip that connected it to my bodily nerve impulses, and crushed it._

_ My left arm now useless, I stood above my unconscious friend._

_A light rain was falling. The rain. One thing in this city that wasn't contaminated. Rain was clean. It was cleansing the land, and I let it run down my face, washing away the blood, the sweat, the premature age that had come upon me, and my hatred. I tilted my head back, and let the liquid course over me. It was finally over._

_ A shot rang out. I felt something pierce my chest. I turned behind me, confused. C stood behind me. A small gun was in his wilting hand. In his other had was a grenade made by Shinra. A gift from Cloud._

_ "We'll go together." He whispered._

_ I grabbed my sword, blocking out all else except for the feel of the blade. In a single shout I let out the last of my defiance, my rage, my anger, and my pain. I charged him. I leapt into the air. There was a flash, the beginning of a cataclysmic noise, and then-_

"-And then I must have fallen unconscious." I finished my tale. "After I woke up, C was gone, and I was alone. There was no one there. I stood up, and realized that my arm had been repaired, and the darkness and nothingness had disappeared entirely from me. I think that it must have been C. he probably thought I was dead and left me. Can't say I blame him, after what I did." I sighed. "After a while I found my way to the inside of the heartless castle and found the gummi ship. I drove it back here, and here I am."

"That's…" Yuffie was crying. "That's…"

"… That's one epic fight." The implacable Cid said.

"Yeah." I said sadly. "I wonder… How's that guy that no one can remember doing on his way up Castle Oblivion?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Chris Talonflight_:_ Countdown to Battle

"Perish in the abyss!" Ansem called, as he fired blasts of darkness at Vexen. Vexen dodged and blocked as best as he could. Ansem had commanded rather then asked Yuffie and I to remain on the sidelines. He was becoming the real leader of this expedition. I only hoped that he wouldn't be killed by DiZ when we finally reached him. We were currently in front of the old mansion in the fake Twilight Town.

"Hey you! Get back!" a voice called. Ansem jerked back just in time. A man with spiky red hair and two triangles under his eyes, and wearing a black Organization XIII outfit sprang forwards, sending one flaming chakram at Vexen. Axel, the eighth member of Organization XIII had arrived. I restrained Ansem.

"He's on our side." I told him. Although it didn't seem like Ansem believed me, he stood quietly.

"Axel…" Vexen gasped. "Why… Why…" Axel merely grinned.

"I always get the icky jobs." He snapped his fingers, and a ring of fire closed around Vexen, ending his existence entirely.

"Hey Lea." I called.

"I have no idea how you know me." he said, scratching his head. "But its _Axel_. Got it memorized?"

"Duh." I said. "Anyway, you wouldn't happen to have a floor card on you, would you?"

"Here." He tossed it over his shoulder towards me. "Kill Marluxia for me. Make's my job easier."

"Don't worry. I plan to." I said.

"By the way, there's someone here to see you." He waved. A girl ran out of the trees.

"Chris!" she said. "I wanted to meet you at least once. There's stuff about this castle I think you should know."

"I know that I'm rapidly losing memories because of it." I said. Namine was cute, to say the least, but she looked way to young for my taste.

"Yes." She said. "Also, I brought you a card that should get you all the way up to Marluxia. Marluxia himself has the card that will send you onto the staircase that will lead you up to my room, where I can fix your memories." She cast a fearful glance at Ansem.

"its okay." I said. "Ansem is helping me. When I fall asleep, let him go."

"You… you know he's a heartless…" she said.

"Yeah. In fact, my best friend is a heartless." I summoned Nudge from the card. He hopped on my shoulder. He poked Namine. _Namine is really really short._ Namine giggled.

"See you at the top." I said. Namine looked at me for a moment with what I thought was a wistful look.

"I wish… I wish we had more time." She said. _Oh no… Don't tell me that NAMINE is actually going to fall for me because I'm here instead of Sora… Just PERFECT… I wonder who's Nobody Namine is._ "See you at the top!"

"uh… Yeah." I said, slightly flustered.

"Namine!" Axel called. "I have to put you back before Marluxia knows you're gone!"

"Yes Axel." Namine called.

"Hey Axel." I called.

"yeah?" Axel responded.

"Take care of you friends." I said. I didn't really want my nobody to have a hard time.

Namine looked at me one last time before following Axel through a dark portal. I shrugged, and walked through the door to the next level.

Instead of another world, here we were inside a square room. There was another door at the other end of the room. The door behind us suddenly disappeared.

"So you have made it this far." A voice said. "I am surprised." The chair in the center of the room swiveled around to face us. Sitting there was Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin. "I take it you have disposed of my minions?"

"Vexen is dead. So is Larxene, and I should imagine that Lexaeus is dead by now too. So it should be just Zexion and you. Pretty soon it will be just Zexion." I summoned my two Soul Eaters.

"how confident." Marluxia's eyes travelled to Ansem. "you managed to defeat me before, but I promise you, your tactics will be far less effective here. While your memories are mostly untouched, you will find that you have forgotten certain moves. And any heartless that you summon here…" he waved his hand, and a group of Dusks appeared. "… Will be dealt with swiftly." He then spied Yuffie. "As for you, you fake, did you really expect to leave here alive?"

"Don't call her that!" I yelled.

"She is a fake, a replica forged from your memories." He said, seemingly puzzled. "Why do you deny the truth?"

"Even a replica has feelings. And I feel for her!" I took up the Riku combat pose. I had learned a few tricks from Ansem on the way up, so I had a few moves that I hadn't forgotten. However, this battle would be decided not by power, but by skill with our weapons. I had taken a careful watch of Marluxia, and knew most of his moves.

"your confidence is underwhelming." Ansem growled. He summoned his heartless guardian. "Where is Xemnas?"

"Xemnas is in our home base." Marluxia retorted. Ansem fixed me with a look.

"you said we would find him." He accused.

"Sure I did. I never said we would find him here." I never looked away from Marluxia. "he's in another world, but I know how to get there. Don't worry. Once I get my memory back, I will personally take you there."

"you'd better." Ansem began hovering. Yuffie brought out her giant shuriken.

"It's now or never." I growled.** (cue song "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed)**

Marluxia spun his scythe at me. I spun, my sword clanging off of his scythe. Marluxia pushed me back, swinging his weapon in a deadly circle. Ansem summoned several dark weapons floating around him, and sent them into a spinning attack. Yuffie stayed back, hurling numerous shurikens and kunais. I summoned six balls of energy around me. "Equaled yet?" I asked. I then sent each of the blasts towards Marluxia in a machine gun style. I charged through Ansem's floating weapons, with my two Soul Eaters in my hands. Marluxia responded with a blast of razor edged sakura petals. I summoned a dark shield around me. Then Marluxia slammed Ansem to the floor and sprang towards me, whirling his scythe.

"Ahh!" I heard Ansem yell. I dodged Marluxia's attack, and turned to look. Several Dusk Nobodies had clambered all over him. They were rapidly being decimated, but more were appearing every second. As powerful as Ansem was, he was in danger of being overrun by the army. I rolled towards him and sent out a dark shockwave, blasting back the army, and giving him some breathing room. Another cry from behind me made my blood freeze.

"Well." Marluxia growled. "Now we know for sure. You really were a fake!" Yuffie was impaled on the end of Marluxia's scythe.

"BASTARD!" I yelled.

We met in a clash. I summoned Last Chaos, my dark keyblade. Marluxia backed up.

"What… You can wield the keyblade?" he was stunned. I grinned with anger.

"DIE!" I yelled, and my keyblade shattered Marluxia's scythe. My blade continued forwards, slamming into Marluxia.

"You traitorous son of a-" I broke off. Then, leaving my keyblade inside a rapidly fading Marluxia, I walked over to where Yuffie lay. **(Cue song "This One (Crying Like a Child)" by Utada Hikaru)**

"Yuffie." I took her hand in mine. "I am so, so sorry."

"Chris…" she looked into my eyes. "it's… all right… I wanted to go with you…"

"it's not all right!" I exclaimed. "I don't want you to die!"

"Its… better this way…"

"no it isn't!" I yelled. "I care about you Yuffie! I love you!"

Yuffie smiled gently. "No you don't. You love… the real me. The real Yuffie. I'm… just a fake. It's better this… way. When I die… I will… merge with the real… me. Then… we will always be together."

"Yuffie." I said her name. I repeated it over and over. Her eyes started to close.

"You must return… to the… real… world…" she said. "I will… be okay… I will… always love you…"

Her eyes closed completely, and she stopped breathing. I cried over her body. I looked at Yuffie, who was beautiful even in death. _Sleep well. Your journey is at its end._ I picked up the thin chain that this Yuffie had always worn looped into her belt and put it around my neck. A small cylinder with a single rune on it hung at the bottom, against my chest. I cut my hand and let the drops of my blood fall into the cylinder, then did the same thing to Yuffie: our blood mixed together, a symbol of what might have been, of what would have been. Then I bent over my dead love and gave her cold lips one, final kiss of farewell. **(Cue song "End of the World" from Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack)**

"Ansem." I said, without turning around, "In exactly one year, you and I will meet again. Meet me in Twilight Town, in front of the Old Mansion. I should be there in exactly one year." I looked up at my mentor.

"Death of one close to you is hard." Ansem seemed emotionless. "I can remember that from my past life."

"Then will you wait for me?" I asked. Ansem hesitated, and then nodded.

"I have come to like you, boy. I would call you my friend." He placed his hand on my shoulder for one instant, and for a single instant a human and rabid heartless shared a common feeling. Then Ansem stepped back, and walked into a dark portal. I stood up. I placed Yuffie's body into Marluxia's chair. I placed the dead Marluxia behind the chair. Picking up one of Yuffie's shurikens, I slammed it again and again into Marluxia's fading body. Then I placed the bloody shuriken into Yuffie's cold hand. Retrieving my keyblade, I looked one last time at Yuffie, and then I opened the door to Namine's Stair.

I began climbing the three hundred steps to the very top of Castle Oblivion. I relaxed all the way. The nightmare of Castle Oblivion was almost at an end. One by one I fed my few remaining memories to the silent walls. The memory of Yuffie and I. the memory of Ansem. The memory of Nudge. The memory of my other friends. The memory of Axel. The memory of my heartless. The memory of David Frostmourne. The memory of my past life. The memory of even my name. And the memory of everything but Namine's words:

See you at the top.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Frostmourne-Replica_:_ Self-Help

I watched as the battle between my real self and Zexion unfolded. My real self was doing quite well, although Zexion still had the upper hand. I always knew that the weakness of David Frostmourne had been magic.

"Drown in Light!" Zexion called. Zexion had disguised himself as Chris, but now he dropped the disguise. I was merely waiting for the chance to kill Zexion.

I had met another member of Organization XIII named Axel. Axel had told me about my shifting memories, and told me how Zexion had manipulated me in order to serve his needs. Naturally, I wasn't very happy about that. Zexion had hunted down Frostmourne after realizing that Marluxia was dead.

Zexion launched a large blast of light at Frostmourne. However, I saw a girl appear. It was… _Yuffie Kisaragi._ She smacked Zexion with a notebook. Zexion fell down, grabbing his head. The girl dropped the illusion, and turned out to be a blonde, young looking white girl. _Namine!_ Frostmourne took that chance to run off with her. Zexion sat up.

"Well Well, Zexion." I stepped from my hiding place. Destiny Islands was full of nice hiding spots. "Seems that the tables are turned after all." I placed my double katana at his throat.

"Why are you betraying me?" he asked. I severed his head with a quick flick.

"Because you betrayed me first." I said, spinning on my heel. I walked off in the direction Frostmourne and Namine had gone. I found them sitting together in the tree house. Namine was just finishing telling Frostmourne about something.

"… and then the replica Yuffie was killed, and he killed Marluxia, and sent Ansem away." She finished. "I actually need to get back soon. But first, I want you to do something for me."

"Sure, anything." David Frostmourne said.

"I want you to go to Twilight Town and talk to this man." Namine scribbled something down on a scrap of paper before handing it to the other me. "He will want to see you."

"All right." He said. "What should I tell him?"

"Tell him 'Namine says hi'." She shrugged.

"Not much of a code." He smirked. "All right. You should be getting back now." He patted her on the head in a fatherly way, and she opened a dark portal. She departed.

David Frostmourne sat there for a little while, thinking. Then he left through a strange portal. I followed him.

"If its power you seek, I can help you." I looked around. A man with red eyes and white hair had emerged from a nearby dark portal.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness!" he said.

"I will need power." I said slowly. "But I would rather earn it then get it as charity."

"Suit yourself." Ansem walked away.

_Shoot! _I ran to catch up with my real self. Then I saw Ansem again. I thought. _What the heck._

"So you changed your mind?" He asked. I nodded.

"Very well." He placed his hand on my head, and I felt something course through me. My clothes became pitch black, and my double-katana grew strange glowing runes on it. Then Ansem disappeared.

_What was that? Is he just some nut?_ Shaking off my thoughts, I ran after myself. I hid myself when I saw him talking with a man dressed in red. The man had bandages all around his face. He pointed, and Frostmourne evidently thanked the man. Then he ran off into the woods.

After going a ways, he stopped at the gates of an old mansion. I was close enough to hear him mutter the words, "maybe Namine is here."

"Hold it!" I yelled. I showed myself. He appeared startled.

"Hmph. You've changed." I said. "Darkness doesn't frighten you anymore."

"How can you tell that it never did?" he asked.

"Because I'm you." I answered simply.

"No, I'M me." He answered firmly. I felt a pang of sadness.

"'I'm me', he says." I shook my head. "Must be nice being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that." He appeared startled again.

"that's right!" I said angrily. "I'm a phony, a fake! The way I look, the way I feel, everything I remember! And even this newfound power-" I felt my muscles surge with the strength that Ansem had given me. "I thought by finding some new strength I could finally be someone: someone who's not at all you! But…" I looked at my hands. "…nothing changes… I'm still just empty! Everything about me is borrowed!" I looked up, determination in my eyes. "As long as you're around, I'll never be more then a shadow!" I lifted my double katana into battle position, and looked death in the eye.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: David Frostmourne_:_ A New Purpose

**(Cue "End of the World" from the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack)**

I hurled my gold punch knife. A spin of my replica's weapon deflected it. He sent a slash towards my head. I easily leaped over it, and came down in a slashing combo. My replica merely lifted his double-katana and blocked me. He then swung a length of chain at me, and I attempted to block it with my double katana. However, the chain merely wrapped around the blade and snarled it. The replica gave a mighty pull, sending me hurtling towards him. He tried to stab me, but I grabbed his arm and used it as leverage for a spinning kick. At the end of my boot were several small capsules containing sealed Blizzaga spells. The capsules ruptured when they smacked into my replica's bare head, and left his face half encased in ice. I grabbed his weapon, and hurled it far away. However, he kicked my weapon out of my hands. We were now both weaponless. I tackled him, throwing him to the ground. We rolled over and over, punching, kicking, scratching, and doing everything we could to kill each other. The replica, however, managed to get on top of me, and began trying to choke the life out of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my gold punch knife lying nearby. I reached out, grabbed it, and slammed it into his chest. He released his hold on me, and fell backwards. A pool of darkness formed around his body.

"So… it's over…" he muttered. "Hmph. Death doesn't frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life. My heart was never real. I'm sure even what I'm feeling now is probably all fake." My heart went out to this person who was me.

"What are you feeling?" I asked, hoping to make him feel better in his last moments.

"What happens when a fake dies? One like me: where will my heart go?" he looked up at the pieces of his replicated body that were fading away into the sky. "Does it disappear?"

"it'll go somewhere." I said. "Maybe… to the same place as mine."

"Heh." He smiled slightly. "A faithful replica, until the very end." His eyes closed, and the darkness covered him. "That's… okay." He faded away entirely. I saluted the sky to whence his last remnants disappeared into. Then I turned and walked into the Old Mansion.

"Welcome, Frostmourne!" DiZ stood there, Namine by his side. Behind him was a pair of large pod-like machines. One of them held the sleeping form of Chris. The other held the form of Nudge.

"We've been waiting for you." Namine said. "We can help you with your possession."

"Really?" I asked. "Because he hasn't acted up at all. I'm starting to wonder if he actually was transferred."

"He's in there all right." DiZ was staring at me. "Come. I will draw him from your heart. However, before I do that, I would like to ask you if you would consider joining us. We want to restore Chris's memories."

"Any friend of Chris's is a friend of mine." I nodded. I walked down the corridor towards my new job, and my new destiny.


	17. Chapter 17

_**SECRET ENDING**_

"It's quiet here." The man sitting on the log said, watching the silence of the empty world of nothing. It was a quiet beach, and the waves lapped the eternal evening setting.

"Who are you?" I asked. The man responded quietly.

"I'm what's left." He looked out over the waves. "Or maybe, I'm all there ever was."

"I meant your name." I was impatient.

"A meaningless noise." He looked at me. "What about you? Do you still remember your true name?"

The man got up, and walked past me. However, as he passed by me, he placed his hand on my shoulder for a second and uttered one word.

"Chris."


End file.
